Friday, May 13, 2011

As in I don't need any extra sugar. That's not true, at all. I could stand to be sweeter but I do not need any added sugar. Y'all know how it is, the more sugar you eat the more you crave. At least that way with all junk food for me.

I've kind of fallen off the wagon since my last race in April. My weekly mileage barely breaks double digits. And I don't start training for the fall half marathon season until July. In fact, I've skipped asmany early morning sweat sessions as I've done. This foolishness is not going to get me to my goal of 10 lbs lighter by the end of summer. So...I'll join in on some one else's foolishness and maybe it'll make me fall back into line.

RunToTheFinish is hosting a 10 day sugar free challange. She's been considering going without extra sugar for awhile and misery loves company. June 1 thru June 10 I will attempt to got sugar free with her.

This snippet from her blog explains the what to eat, what not to eat, and why.

Look through your cabinets, unexpected things like tomato sauce, ketchup and peanut butter can contain sugars we are trying to avoid or just excess sugar. Avoid: Fructose, Maltose, Sorbitol, Evaporated Cane Juice, Xylotol and other sugars end in “ol” or “ose”

Sugar substitutes (Aspartame, Sucralose, Nutra-sweet, Stevia)

Fruit juice

Advanced: If you already have a very low sugar diet or want to see what a complete sugar detox feels like you will also remove “sugar forming foods”. This includes: all starchy root vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, quinoa millet and buckwheat.

What To Eat

MORE importantly let’s focus on what to eat…WHOLE FOODS

Fruits of any kind (recommended to eat whole fruits and not dried at this point)

Most of us realize that sugar isn’t great for our bodies, but until recently the research hadn’t been strong enough to give us more reason than weight loss. I have a complete post on all the ways sugar is harmful.. but in case you don’t click back.. here are a few:

Addictive: “Sugar can be addictive, wielding power over the brains of lab animals much like a craving for drugs, according to Princeton University scientists.”

Too much sugar blocks leptin in your brain and your body can’t tell when it’s full…this is part of why we are now in an obesity epidemic

Toxins: Our liver holds on to toxins and fat when we eat too much sugar…so we need to clean it out by cleaning up our food choices.

May be a leading cause of cancer - creating insulin which feeds cancer cells and scientist are working to prove the theory that it causes them to grow faster

My family doesn't eat much pre-packaged food. Any sauce we eat I make. This challenge will not be too far out of my normal life. But there are treats I will miss.

Giving up "sweets" will be tough since I love candy. But the hardest will be bread. I eat at least one peanut butter sandwich everyday. Oh yes, and coffee. I looooove coffee. But I like it with milk & Splenda. But that's why she's calling a challenge. It won't be a "cake walk."